Race Across America 2014

Seweryn

Cristoph Strasser is unbelievable. 800km in the first 24h of The Race :eek:.
That's mad, Ted...

Live tracking here:

http://www.tractalis.com/raam2014/

wirelessdude01

That is pure lunacy.

Raam

Irish lad, Joe Barr, riding it.

Image from today.

Seweryn

Raam wrote: »

Irish lad, Joe Barr, riding it.

Image from today.

Nice enough weather for... a spin around the country .

RobFowl

Raam wrote: »

Irish lad, Joe Barr, riding it.

Ireland's only ever Irish Pro road champion .....

simonrooneyzaga

I watched the ITV doc about the 2009 version last week - hadn't heard of the race before then. It's incredible that people can get to that level of physical / mental fitness.

Is this event an alternative outlet for crazed axe murderers to focus their efforts on???? Mad Men!

Lusk_Doyle

RobFowl wrote: »

Ireland's only ever Irish Pro road champion .....

Didn't he have to pull out of this a few years ago while at high altitude with an edema or something?

darkvalley

They are mad. Some race. There is also another race across america going at the moment call the Transam. Donncha Curtis from Cork is in that one. It can be followed here
http://trackleaders.com/transam14

The difference between the two, as I understand it, is the Transam competitors are unsupported by any team.

Eamonnator

RobFowl wrote: »

Ireland's only ever Irish Pro road champion .....

I thought, Martin Earley was Irish Pro road champion. Won it in The Isle of Man.
Or am I all mixed up?

TheBlaaMan

Seweryn wrote: »

Cristoph Strasser is unbelievable. 800km in the first 24h of The Race :eek:.
That's mad, Ted...

Live tracking here:

http://www.tractalis.com/raam2014/

Christoph Strasser's performance in last years RAI was astonishing - he finished nearly a full day ahead of the next solo rider and beat three of the five four person teams. The guy is an alien. He has previously won the RAAM and was one of the youngest to so.

RobFowl

Eamonnator wrote: »

I thought, Martin Earley was Irish Pro road champion. Won it in The Isle of Man.
Or am I all mixed up?

You are right, got the 1/2/3 mixed up
Early/Kelly/Barr......

Eamonnator

RobFowl wrote: »

You are right, got the 1/2/3 mixed up
Early/Kelly/Barr......

Barr was and is a savage.

Technique

Eamonnator wrote: »

Barr was and is a savage.

He must be 50 now?

decrrrrrr

Been keeping an eye on Joe's progress - was gutted for him in 2012 when he had to pull out so early. He has learnt a lot from then and the last report has him resting up from the hot Arizona sun. His StalkerBook link is https://www.facebook.com/TeamJoeBarr

Here's a great wee documentary from when he won the Race Around Ireland..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/8399888.stm

As for Strasser - that man is from a different world altogether..!!

Raam

Giving sick kids a ring in the middle of the race. Good man, Joe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXrExw2s_Yg

el tel

RobFowl wrote: »

Ireland's only ever Irish Pro road champion .....

Was the Irish Pro road championship a specific or one off event, or is it the same thing as the National Road Race championship?

Eamonnator

The championship, that Earley won was held in conjunction with the British Road Championship, in the Isle of Man. There were so few Irish pros, it was not feasible to run a separate race.
The Irish raced the same race as the British. Earley was 1st Irishman home.
If you do The Tour of Kildare, have a look at Martin's jersey. It is a Naas CC jersey, with tricolour at wristbands and collar, to acknowledge his win.

nilhg

Christoph Strasser is just unreal, he's over the Rockies and heading down into Kansas already.

RobFowl

Eamonnator wrote: »

The championship, that Earley won was held in conjunction with the British Road Championship, in the Isle of Man. There were so few Irish pros, it was not feasible to run a separate race.
The Irish raced the same race as the British. Earley was 1st Irishman home.
If you do The Tour of Kildare, have a look at Martin's jersey. It is a Naas CC jersey, with tricolour at wristbands and collar, to acknowledge his win.

It was a once off event IFRC

Seweryn

nilhg wrote: »

Christoph Strasser is just unreal, he's over the Rockies and heading down into Kansas already.

Not sure what he is on, just looks like he is in a different level that all the rest of the competitors.

RobFowl

Seweryn wrote: »

Not sure what he is on, just looks like he is in a different level that all the rest of the competitors.

Some have different strategies, ie start hard and fast and then fade while others pace themselves better.

emtroche

I've had the pleasure of meeting Christoph a number of times now at RAAM and RAI and i have to say that despite his obvious mental and physical abilities, the thing that blows me away the most is his attitude. He really is the nicest, most humble guy you could imagine meeting. Zero ego. His crew are utterly exceptional too. His stops are formula 1 style and it's easy to see the guys would do anything for him. For a crew to have that type of attitude it just shows how likeable the guy is.

emtroche

One of the reasons he has such a big gap is because he made it to TS05 at Salome, Arizona while it was still dark. The 50 or so miles before it are some of the hardest of the whole race in my opinion. It drags upwards very slightly for the whole thing and is completely exposed with strong crosswinds. During the day this section becomes an utter nightmare. To put things in perspective, when Strasser went through in the dark it was about 25 degrees. Later that day the temp had risen to around 39 degrees.

But that's just one of many reasons!

emtroche

Teams starting today. Dave zabriski is on one. So is Pippa Middleton. Just to add to the bizarreness!

Raam

One of the competitors.

nilhg

And Christop Strasser is on almost the last leg of the race, "just" 133km to the finish, he's just had his last powernap and is heading towards the finish.



Joe Barr is just over 2/3 of the way across and seems to be going strong.

Incredible athletes all of them.

Daroxtar

Raam wrote: »

One of the competitors.

Am I the only one looking at that chap and thinking about his aero profile, drag coefficient and increased power to weight ratio?

emtroche

Strasser is finished. First place and beat his record from last year! Less than 7 and a half days. 3,020 miles and 6 hours sleep for the whole thing.

Not sure what his exact finish time was but his record from last year was 15.56mph!

Without a shadow of a doubt he is one of the greatest athletes in the world.

ford2600

emtroche wrote: »

Strasser is finished. First place and beat his record from last year! Less than 7 and a half days. 3,020 miles and 6 hours sleep for the whole thing.

Not sure what his exact finish time was but his record from last year was 15.56mph!

Without a shadow of a doubt he is one of the greatest athletes in the world.

16.43mph for this year according to raam website

emtroche

ford2600 wrote: »

16.43mph for this year according to raam website

Holy jebus! :eek:

2nd place Mark Pattinson is 750kms behind. And he's no slouch at this sort of thing.

Strasser will be making his way to the ceremonial finish line shortly with a live video feed on his website http://www.christophstrasser.at/raam_2014_live/

PeadarCo

ford2600 wrote: »

16.43mph for this year according to raam website

That's 26.442km/hr. :eek: including sleep I presume. 6hr sleep over 7 and 1/2 days. Less than a hour a day.

A phenomenal performance.

At the moment 2nd place as 745km odd to go. Even he was to do the remainder at average set by Strasser that's winning the race by over a day. 3rd is currently still has over 900km to go.

One hell of an athlete.

fixie fox

Daroxtar wrote: »

Am I the only one looking at that chap and thinking about his aero profile, drag coefficient and increased power to weight ratio?

Ya, unfair advantage.

fortis

For those interested:

This is a power analysis of Strasser from last year. He is sponsored by Power2max.

There is also another article on this years race (I think) though I haven't read that yet. He is unreal

http://www.power2max.de/europe/en/the-power-of-strasser-part-1/

Ryath

fortis wrote: »

For those interested:

This is a power analysis of Strasser from last year. He is sponsored by Power2max.

There is also another article on this years race (I think) though I haven't read that yet. He is unreal

http://www.power2max.de/europe/en/the-power-of-strasser-part-1/

From the article

“During Race Around Italy I held about 275 watts for 20 hours. Unfortunately I can’t show you the files anymore because my bike computer died on me. I guess I was riding too long…” Christoph says. Those 277w were well used – Christoph did the 630km (with a vertical gain of 5000m) at an average speed of 35.5kph – the second placed rider had an average of 29.9kph. Insane.

:eek:

Second article
http://www.power2max.de/europe/en/the-power-of-strasser-part-2/

emtroche

The 'Legends of the Road' won the 4-person team competition at an average speed of 22.93mph. The team consisted of ex-pro Dave Zabriski, Motocross Champion Micky Dymond, Superbike Champion Ben Bostrom and BMX legend Dave Mirra. Thats quite a group of individuals!



And just to emphasis the openness of this type of race, a 4-person team called 'Fuzzys Friends' finished the race in a time of 8 days, 16 hours 18 minutes. Pretty respectable but all the more considering their ages are 52, 70, 80 and 82. The guys are racing in honour of their friend Lee 'Fuzzy' Mitchell who was a well-known face at RAAM and passed away last year. During the race they released his ashes at Wolf Creek Pass which is the highest point of the race.

Peter T

Joe crossed the line 2nd in his class today.

crosstownk

Peter T wrote: »

Joe crossed the line 2nd in his class today.

I'm confused. I'm following Joe on the Tractalis app and he's still got 90km to go although 2nd is virtually guaranteed.

crosstownk

crosstownk wrote: »

I'm confused. I'm following Joe on the Tractalis app and he's still got 90km to go although 2nd is virtually guaranteed.

Screenshot attached. Edit function on the phone wouldn't let me attach an image.

Peter T

My bad, scanned over a facebook update and jumped the gun :rolleyes:

crosstownk

Peter T wrote: »

My bad, scanned over a facebook update and jumped the gun :rolleyes:

Grand. That clears my confusion.

Thanks.

Heroic stuff from Joe, tbh.

Zyzz

Boards.ie team anyone? :pac:

crosstownk

Joe has dropped off the app so it looks like he has made the line.

Kudos to Joe.

Legendary stuff. Awesome.

crosstownk

Well done, Joe.

albert kidd

savage men..watched a few video's of joe barr earlier..one from 2012 race and the deterioration in him as the days went by was frightening..its insane what they put the body/mind through.

he comes across as a cracking fella aswell.

finishing it was winning it to him,so id imagine he and his team are on cloud nine at the moment.

fair play to them.

simonrooneyzaga

crosstownk wrote: »

Well done, Joe.

and he still had 66% battery left in the tank. Impressive!

crosstownk

Maybe this should be in the video thread but I'll post it here.

This man is a legend in my opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuIWc8kqONo